PLC Courses...............................

[Chris1234]

Morning, has anyone been on a PLC course?
I’m looking to get into programming and design, likely Siemens S7.
I’m in the Manchester area so in the north west would be good!

If you’ve done a course, was it worthwhile, has it helped you progres?

Thanks.

 

[Darkwood]

Have you not googled it ?

You will find Siemens has a Manchester hub that offers training courses...

SITRAIN - Training for Industry - Manchester-Location, Siemens Training - https://www.sitrain-learning.siemens.com/UK/en/content/Manchester-Location.do

 

[Chris1234]

Ah, I’d been looking at independent places to do a course.
I imagine Siemens would be very expensive.
I’ll gave a look, thanks!

 

[Darkwood]

Although I cannot comment on this course, you may be surprised at courses done by the manufacturers as they tend to be mutual beneficial as you are trained to use their products it makes it more likely you will buy them, it's the third party courses that normally try make a good profit out of would be trainees.
There are often regional training days set up by manufacturers that are often free as they are promoting and teaching potential customers to use their products so worth a look into the courses Siemens does.

 

[telectrix]

well worth doing. production managers will treat you as a god if you can fix their errant PLCs. it's black magic to the uninitiated.

 

[Chris1234]

Thanks, had a quick look, Siemens charge £2700 for a 5 day course on the basics.
The other place near me is £810 for 5 days!

I’ll read up on the Siemens course tonight, thanks.

 

[Bobster]

Just buy one on ebay, you can get trial programming software from most of the big hitters.

Also, step 7 is being phased out. If Siemens is the route you want to go down, look for courses on TIA portal.

Siemens courses are expensive, I've done them, was forced to in my last company. Didn't need them, but I had to have the Siemens programmer qualification as the company I used to work for was a Siemens solution partner. The certificates carry a decent amount of weight in interviews.

Rockwell do the same, did those courses a couple of years ago whilst I was working in the US. Again, expensive, but good for CV's.

As for what you actually will learn on these course. You'll get more from, buying some used PLCs off ebay and studying the manuals.

 

[Darkwood]

Well I am surprised but I am self taught so cannot justify paying that if all they do is slap you with the basics, like Rob says you can download free software for many brands and learn off them, they all come with online manual if anything confuses you.
I can link you to some free PLC software Function Block seems to be the future now as its easier to use, more options and quicker to program... if your interested in having a go then you can easily pick up the basics but it won't be a recognised cert' on your CV so depends on what you're after.

 

[timbobelfast]

Completed a Siemens course this year

Morning, has anyone been on a PLC course?
I’m looking to get into programming and design, likely Siemens S7.
I’m in the Manchester area so in the north west would be good!

If you’ve done a course, was it worthwhile, has it helped you progres?

Thanks.

Hi Chris,

I recently completed a Siemens based course (Mechatronics)
It has been very useful in my line of work. Programming and Design is another dimension. I suggest you build on experience, Robs advice of buying a couple of 2nd hand units and software is where I started.

This is the link for the Siemens course :
SERC - Siemens Level 1 - https://www.serc.ac.uk/Course/Siemens-Level-1

 

[Chris1234]

Thanks for the replies.
I need to decide tonight if I’m going to do the local course, as they only have one place left for the whole year!

Would the Siemens Programming 1 course carry a lot more weight than an EAL Approved course? It’s around £2k more, so need to offer a fair bit more!

Ive just bought a S7 200 PLC with add-on DI & DO and add-on AI & AO. So will learn with it.

Thanks.